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Taxing Virtual Gaming Assets
rijit writes " It appears very likely that taxation of online games assets is inevitable. Quote: 'That's because game publishers may well in the not too distant future have to send the forms — which individuals receive when earning nonemployee income from companies or institutions — to virtual world players engaging in transactions for valuable items like Ultima Online castles, EverQuest weapons or Second Life currency, even when those players don't convert the assets into cash.' "
I suppose that you could add heavy taxes on luxury goods to "even out" the tax burden, but that's not exactly fair to the middle class (my new flat screen is gonna cost WHAT?!), and it puts luxury goods completely out of reach for poorer families.
And what the hell is wrong with that? Why should poor people be able to enjoy luxury goods?
Maybe we should increase taxes on poor people for being so stupid. After all, take a trip through the crappiest trailer park in your area and you'll see a DirecTV satellite dish on every one of them. I have a quarter-million dollar home and I don't have a satellite dish.
Sorry, but sales taxes make a lot of sense despite your nonsensical objections. What's next, are you going to advocate that everyone below the poverty line be given a new Bentley every year at taxpayer expense?
No paperwork for most citizens (yay!), less paperwork for businesses (overall, though more for sales-tax related things), illegal immigrants pay taxes, and they don't even get a rebate, removing most of the need of the IRS and their power. What's the downside?
The downside is a LOT of people currently working for the IRS will need to find a new job, and taxpayer dollars won't need to be wasted on their salaries any more.
Anyone know how much money it costs the IRS to operate? Seems to me that it's a large fraction of their revenue.